ROCK HILL, South Carolina, August 5, 2014 – 3D Systems (NYSE:DDD) announced today it is hopping on-board the 2014 Millennial Trains Project, a ten-day transcontinental journey with 25 pioneering Millennials who gathered to solve civic grand challenges using disruptive technologies and implement their solutions and programs in the local communities of each stop of the trip. Through this sponsorship, 3DS is democratizing access to localized manufacturing capabilities by delivering a railway-ready hacker-space equipped with the latest 3D printers and digital craftsmanship tools.

3DS plans to deliver a complete onboard hacker-space experience powered by its new CubePro and EKOCYCLE 3D printers and its latest Sense and iSense 3D scanners. Both CubePro and iSense are shipping with immediate availability. The CubePro features the largest-in-class print platform; the only controlled print chamber and ultra high-resolution settings of 70-micron thin print layers. The EKOCYCLE Cube 3D printer lets you stylize your digital world and make it real, printing in high resolution, fast speeds and with beautiful complexity only matched by nature. Each EKOCYCLE cartridge turns the equivalent of 3 plastic bottles into your next wearable fashion, music accessory or desktop décor. It is the only 3D printer that exclusively prints in recycled materials with an integrated platform emphasizing the use of post-consumer waste for remaking of new, functional items.

3DS’s on-board hacker-space is an interactive environment designed for Millennials to discover how 3D printing can create new businesses, transform entire industries and push the frontiers of American manufacturing, as well as the possible applications of the technology to their own projects. In its second annual cross-country trip, the Millennial Trains Projects include initiatives to enable and empower small businesses from artisanal start ups to established entrepreneurs, create 21st century skills training and knowledge shares, a variety of sustainability-focused programs for students and larger urban communities and reimagine the way Americans approach innovation and our future.

“Computing power and advanced technologies are integral to my music in the studio and on stage,” said will.i.am, Chief Creative Officer, 3DS. “Harnessing 3DS’s latest 3D printing tools, today’s Millennials are equipped today with the digital literacy skills that will drive the future and transform how they design, what they create and where they manufacture it.”

At each stop, 3DS will participate in local activations with the Millennial Trains Project and its other sponsors including visits to local libraries and maker-spaces to show how 3D printing can promote digital literacy and creative manufacturing endeavors in a powerful and effective way. Other sponsors and partners include the U.S. Small Business Administration, the U.S. Department of State, City Year, McKinsey & Company, Fund for the Republic and National Geographic Traveler. The full schedule of events and how to follow along on the journey is available at www.millennialtrain.co.

"The Millennial Trains Project is pioneering a fundamentally new form of travel that prioritizes creativity over consumption," said Patrick Dowd, Founder and CEO of the Millennial Trains Project, "Instead of buying souvenirs, we are using 3D printers to manufacture tokens of extraordinary, crowdfunding-enabled experiences."

3D Systems is a leading provider of 3D printing centric design-to-manufacturing solutions including 3D printers, print materials and cloud sourced on-demand custom parts for professionals and consumers alike in materials including plastics, metals, ceramics and edibles. The company also provides integrated 3D scan-based design, freeform modeling and inspection tools and an integrated 3D planning and printing digital thread for personalized surgery and patient specific medical devices. Its products and services replace and complement traditional methods and reduce the time and cost of designing new products by printing real parts directly from digital input. These solutions are used to rapidly design, create, communicate, prototype or produce functional parts and assemblies, empowering customers to manufacture the future.

Leadership Through Innovation and Technology

•3DS invented 3D printing with its Stereolithography (SLA) printer and was the first to commercialize it in 1989.

•3DS invented Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) printing and was the first to commercialize it in 1992.

•3DS invented the Color-Jet-Printing (CJP) class of 3D printers and was the first to commercialize 3D powder-based systems in 1994.

•3DS invented Multi-Jet-Printing (MJP) printers and was the first to commercialize it in 1996.

Today its comprehensive range of 3D printers is the industry’s benchmark for production-grade manufacturing in aerospace, automotive, patient specific medical device and a variety of consumer, electronic and fashion accessories.

The Millennial Trains Project (MTP) is a non-profit organization that leads crowdfunded transcontinental train journeys to empower diverse groups of Millennials to explore America's new frontiers. Over the course of a ten-day journey, MTP helps participants and virtual audiences to identify, evaluate, and explore new opportunities and challenges in the communities where its trains stop – and advance a project that benefits, serves, and inspires others. The inspiration for MTP comes from a similar train journey, the Jagriti Yatra, that founder Patrick Dowd helped lead as a 2010-11 Fulbright Scholar in India.